What do you most admire in a colleague?
People who are empathetic, authentic, compassionate. Whilst also being straightforward and clear. The kind of people who understand how to show up, get stuck in, do their thing, whilst also getting the best out of other people.
People who appreciate that the best teams are built around diversity from every lens, and knowing how to both nurture and celebrate this through collaboration.
And also, let’s face it. It’s nice to work with kind, funny, smart folk who just get it.
What moment in your life most helped in shaping your career?
Two things came together in my life that have been instrumental in shaping where I am right now.
Firstly, working with some amazing, inspirational women over the last two decades, whilst also experiencing first-hand, the challenges women face every day in business, in work, in life.
This sparked inside me the desire and need to create something that was focused on supporting and empowering women in a meaningful way, using my experience. It’s the reason I left the Global Agency I was working at last year and set up my Transformational Coaching business, for Women on a Mission.
It’s also the reason I’ve set up within this, Project She, a Coaching Programme aimed to create opportunity for younger talented women who don’t have the privilege to work with a paid coach, after experiencing and observing the classicism that is still embedded into our systems.
Then, after almost dying a few years ago from meningitis, I took some time to really reflect on what I wanted across my life. And to create that version of it. I made some big changes over those 4 years, including leaving my marriage, and deciding to leave my 20 year career in Advertising.
I wanted to create something that felt authentically me. And something that really allowed me to use my experiences to support and empower women in their lives, their work and their businesses. And that’s what I did. Setting up &DanielleBateman to do just that.
Which women do you look to in life to help guide you?
There are so many brilliant women everywhere to help guide and inspire you. I’m lucky I have an amazing group of strong women and cheerleaders all around me.
My sisters, my mother, my friends, my clients, women across my network. All fierce, inspirational and beacons of light. I’m also so grateful in my business now to have the privilege of coaching these women every single day. Something I absolutely love and that I draw inspiration and good vibes from constantly.
What advice would you give your twenty-year-old self?
I would tell myself to be unashamedly me. To embrace my difference, my uniqueness and use it as my power. I would remind myself that Mindset shapes so much of our lives, our work, our relationships.
And to be kind to myself when that self-doubt, those limiting thoughts and unhelpful narratives showed up. Reminding myself that I am brilliant at what I do and to not let fears or doubt get in the way of that. I would also tell myself to trust the process and enjoy it all.